Symington, in Narcissism: A New Theory , suggests that in “people dominated by narcissistic currents there is a failure of separateness between themselves and others, and they will asume that you think in the same way that they think.” These ‘narcissistic currents’ are significant in corporate settings but it’s because personal pathologies creation organizational pathologies.
In personal relationships, this current can be seen in the movement towards the abolishing of difference in striving for agreement. If agreement is the goal of relationships, it is impossible to care for the other. Listening will only be done as a way to weed our discontentment where disagreements occur, essentially looking to murder the separateness that I feel with you. So I either become like you, or you like me … neither option allowing for either person to be present with the other.
